If you’ve played the Fight Night Champion demo, you have an idea about the new control scheme, which is called Full Spectrum Punch Control (FSPC). This is a total revamp from years past of Total Punch Control that had been used in the previous Fight Night games. FSPC utilizes simple flicks of the right analog stick to throw left and right punches high and low to bring the pain to your opponent. The best way to describe it is to think of it as a clock face when throwing punches. Flicks to the left and right either side of 12 o’clock work your jabs, 3 and 9 o’clock are for your right and left hooks, and either side of 6 o’clock is for the uppercuts. Flicking the stick in between any of these positions will cause your boxer to throw a variation of whatever punch you where intending such as an uppercut with a more out and up angle. The FSPC will be one of the most loved or hated new additions to the game because of the way Total Punch Control mirrored real life swings.
I will admit as a Fight Night veteran, I hated the new FSPC at first, but after spending a better part of three days learning the mechanics, I learned it – improved at it, and began to fall in love with it. Punching, swaying in and out, and hitting that perfect knockout shot never felt more fluid in a boxing game than it does in EA Sports’ Fight Night Champion. Punching is not the only new mechanic that has been overhauled in Fight Night Champion. Blocking and dodging have also been simplified from the previous games. You now have to hold the right trigger for your boxer to guard and move the left analog stick to adjust your fighter’s posture to keep your opponent from dropping Haymakers to your head and body. Again it was something new that I did not like at first, but once I gave it a chance to learn the ins and outs of the mechanics it just seemed to flow better and better. The one thing that I cannot say enough about this game is just how fluid the game is. It has all the jaw dropping moments that made you scream just like the first time you played Fight Night Round 3 on the Xbox 360.
One thing that Fight Night Champion has that makes it stand out over the “great” Fight Night Round 3 is an all-new story mode that had me hooked from the very beginning. It is called Champion Mode and it nails the Rocky IV movie type better than any of the boxing video games in the past. You take control of Andre Bishop, an up and coming middleweight fighter that goes from being on top to down at the bottom - all while taking you on a fantastic ride that you could only see in the movies. EA Sports has also stepped their game up with a new online feature entitled The Gym, where players can take a created boxer online and start or join an existing Gym made-up of online friends. Once a member of a Gym, players can organize internal seasons and crown a Gym Champion and challenge other Gym’s to show who Xbox Live Greatest of all-time truly is. Featuring a refined physics-based animation system that incorporates improved locomotion, punching and stamina mechanics, Fight Night Champion will enable users to move, attack and dodge with the speed and power of the best champions, contenders and pretenders in the world of boxing. Fight Night fans and fighting game veterans will stand-up and applaud at the stunning visuals and solid mechanics that Fight Night Champion brings to the table in early 2011.
